Search

A highly transparent Tb1−xTmxVO4 (TTV) single crystal with a size of Ø 30 × 35mm3 has been successfully grown employing the Czochralski method. X-ray powder diffraction measurement was carried out, confirming that TTV crystallizes in the tetragonal system. The full width at half maximum of the rocking curve for the TTV crystal is 14 arcsec, revealing that TTV has excellent crystallinity. The TTV crystal exhibits high transparency over a wide wavelength range. The measured Verdet constants of the TTV crystal at 532, 633, and 1064 nm are 282, 214, and 139 rad m−1 T−1, respectively, which are remarkably larger than those of the commercially available TGG crystal. The extinction ratio of TTV at 1064 nm reaches 43 dB, which exceeds the largest value of TGG. The laser-induced damage threshold and thermal conductivity of TTV have also been studied to assess its practical application in high-power laser system. Above presented results demonstrate that TTV has high potential as a magneto-optical material in the VIS–NIR region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tar and substantial CH4 and CO2 are contained in gasified fuels, which pose an obstacle to direct chemical synthesis, and this is a predominant challenge for biomass gasification technology. Herein, a packed−bed dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor was built for simultaneous CH4 dry reforming and tar removal with a La−Ni/γ−Al2O3 catalyst. The interaction between CH4 dry reforming and tar removal in plasma catalysis was investigated. The results indicated that plasma catalysis can achieve high−efficiency simultaneous tar removal and CH4 dry reforming, as indicated by the reactants' conversion (14% increase for CCH4 and CCO2 at 450 °C in the presence of tar and a 37% increase for the tar removal rate at 360 °C when CH4 and CO2 were introduced), and the mechanism for mutual promotion of CH4 dry reforming and tar removal was elucidated through catalyst characterization results. In addition, a possible reaction mechanism for tar removal via plasma catalysis was proposed. These findings provide valuable insights for simultaneous upgrading and purification of gases generated by biomass gasification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, antibacterial and antifouling properties Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) composite membranes were prepared via nonsolvent-induced phase separation of PVDF and Zn@TiO2 blending. The Zn@TiO2 nanoparticle was successfully prepared by the sol-gel method, and then Zn@TiO2 was used to modify the PVDF membrane to obtain higher water flux and antibacterial and antifouling properties. The PVDF composite membrane was systematically characterized through a series of analysis techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). In addition, the water contact angle, pure water flux, tensile strength, porosity, antibacterial property and stain resistance of the membrane have been studied. Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were used to evaluate the antibacterial performance of the membrane, and the BSA was selected as a model organic pollutant to study the antifouling performance of the membrane. Results show that the PVDF composite membranes have excellent antibacterial properties (nearly 100%), high permeability (up to 433.69 L m−2 h−1) and mechanical strength (enhanced by 26.5%). It can be used for possible complex high-protein wastewater treatment without facing serious biological pollution problems, and has broad application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel electrochemiluminescence (ECL) biosensor for the determination of microRNA-21 (miRNA-21) was developed, based on a hybrid luminescent Co-MOF-ABEI/Ti3C2Tx composite as an ECL luminophore combined with a duplex-specific nuclease (DSN)-assisted signal amplification strategy. The synthesized Co-MOF-ABEI/Ti3C2Tx composite carrying N-(4-aminobutyl)-N-ethylisoluminol (ABEI) exhibited strong and stable ECL in the presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The ECL biosensor was fabricated by adsorbing Co-MOF-ABEI/Ti3C2Tx onto a glassy carbon electrode and covalently coupling the probe DNA onto the surface of the Co-MOF-ABEI/Ti3C2Tx-modified electrode. In the presence of the target miRNA-21, the DSN selectively cleaved the complementary DNA section (S1) to miRNA-21, resulting in the release of the transduction section (S2) and the reuse of miRNA-21 in the subsequent amplification cycle. The interaction of the stem-loop structure of the probe DNA with the Co-MOF-ABEI/Ti3C2Tx-modified glassy carbon electrode with S2 strands led to the opening of the annular part of the probe DNA. Then, the opened guanine (G)-rich sequences of probe DNA were exposed and folded into a hemin/G-quadruplex DNAzyme in the presence of hemin. The catalysis of H2O2 to ROS by the hemin/G-quadruplex DNAzyme significantly enhanced ECL intensity, and this intensity was logarithmically proportional to the concentration of target miRNA-21 between 0.00001 and 10 nM, having a limit of detection of 3.7 fM. The designed ECL biosensor can detect miRNA-21 extracted from HeLa cells, indicating its promising application in clinical diagnosis and disease prognosis analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]